TY - JOUR

T1 - Galileo and the Enigma of -ic/-ical Adjective Pairs

T2 - New Techniques to Meet Old Challenges

AU - Lidong, Ma

AU - Tarp, Sven

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - One of the challenges that non-native speakers are facing when writing in English is the use of the suffixes -ic and -ical in connection with a big number of adjectives. L2 learners, even at a high proficiency level, sometimes have doubts about the form they should use in a concrete context. Other times they are simply not aware that they have a problem. The article will look at the assistance they can get in traditional dictionaries as well as some of the new digital writing assistants. It will analyze and classify adjectives ending in -ic and -ical and try to detect some trends that may be relevant for learners at different levels. It will then propose a multidimensional solution that can be incorporated into a digital writing assistant. The proposal includes various types of assistance, even to writers who are not aware of any problem. It also has a pedagogical dimension that makes it particularly relevant to non-native learners of English.

AB - One of the challenges that non-native speakers are facing when writing in English is the use of the suffixes -ic and -ical in connection with a big number of adjectives. L2 learners, even at a high proficiency level, sometimes have doubts about the form they should use in a concrete context. Other times they are simply not aware that they have a problem. The article will look at the assistance they can get in traditional dictionaries as well as some of the new digital writing assistants. It will analyze and classify adjectives ending in -ic and -ical and try to detect some trends that may be relevant for learners at different levels. It will then propose a multidimensional solution that can be incorporated into a digital writing assistant. The proposal includes various types of assistance, even to writers who are not aware of any problem. It also has a pedagogical dimension that makes it particularly relevant to non-native learners of English.

KW - Linguistic morphology

KW - Lexicography

KW - -ic/-ical adjectives

KW - Classification criteria

KW - Lexical knowledge

KW - L2 writing

KW - Writing assistants

KW - Disruptive technologies

KW - Contextualization

KW - Dictionaries

U2 - 10.7146/hjlcb.v60i0.121320

DO - 10.7146/hjlcb.v60i0.121320

M3 - Journal article

VL - 60

SP - 209

EP - 239

JO - Hermes

JF - Hermes

SN - 0904-1699

ER -